One of the best things about being a network marketer is that you are in business for yourself. You may work with a large organization, but you are an
independent associate. As a result, because you operate a business, you have many opportunities to lower your taxes. Our tax system really supports
businesses. Unfortunately, most small business owners just don't invest the time to discover these benefits.

As an advocate of better tax education, I hear a lot of reasons why people do not think this is important. They will tell me the tax code is too
complicated or that they don't make enough to worry about it; or worse, they think it is the responsibility of their CPA. All these responses rob you of
the fruits of your efforts and profits.

Without tax knowledge you will always overpay your taxes each, year after year. Further, until this problem is fixed, as you make more money you will just
pay more taxes. It will never stop or get better without you taking a little bit of time to educate yourself.

If you need more proof, the government recently published that the average business owner overpays their taxes by a whopping $11,000 a year. Ouch! This is
just lost profits that should be staying in your bank account!

How do you tackle this problem? Recognize your role and responsibility. Tax reduction can only happen if you become involved. Your CPA doesn't write the
checks, pay the bills, make the payments, or entertain the prospects. You do. If you don't know what you can write off, you may miss many opportunities.

When I first started out, I didn't take the time to learn these things. When I finally did, I realized two things. First, all the prior years of my career,
I needlessly gave away thousands of dollars to the government in the overpayment of taxes! Second, learning about taxes was not that difficult, so I felt
really silly to not have done this earlier

I discovered that most of the opportunities for me to reduce my taxes could be found in five simple business deductions; entertainment, gifting, travel,
vehicle, and home office. Further, the rules were not that complicated to learn at all. I guess I just believed what everyone else was saying. I wasted
years complaining that the tax code was too complicated without even looking at it! Now I share this insight with every business group I meet.

As an educator and teacher whose specialty is helping business owners, the best advice I can give you is to discover the role taxes play in your bottom
line. You can make exactly the same money this year as you did last year. But you will have more money at the end of this year because you will have paid
fewer taxes. My mantra is, "The more you know, the less you owe."

Most webinars here at Networking University show you how to make more money, or how to get more prospects. But it is not what you make that counts. What
really matters is how much you keep of what you make. The best time to start this journey is now! Don't let another day, month, or year go by. Think about
how hard it is to earn that money—and how silly it would for you to just give it away.